Health centres sans water may spur superbugs: United Nations

Worldwide, nearly 900 million people have no water at all at local health facilities or use water from unprotected wells or springs, state WHO and Unicef

A quarter of the world’s health facilities lack basic water services, impacting 2 billion people, the United Nations said on Wednesday, warning that unhygienic conditions could fuel the global rise of deadly superbugs.

In the poorest countries, about half of facilities do not have basic water services — meaning water delivered by pipes or bore-holes that protect it from faeces — putting birthing mothers and newborns in particular danger, new data showed (HT File Photo)

In the poorest countries, about half of facilities do not have basic water services — meaning water delivered by pipes or bore-holes that protect it from faeces — putting birthing mothers and newborns in particular danger, new data showed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) said more than 1 million deaths a year were associated with unclean births, and 15 percent of all patients attending a health facility developed infections.“Hospitals are not necessarily points of care where you can heal, but points of almost infection. (We) are very alarmed by this,” WHO public health co-ordinator Bruce Gordon said.

Worldwide, nearly 900 million people have no water at all at their local health facility or have to use unprotected wells or springs. One in five facilities also lack toilets, impacting about 1.5 billion people, the agencies said.

The agencies said good water and sanitation services were crucial to reducing the spread of antimicrobial resistance, one of the greatest global health threats.